“I’m lucky to be alive,” says tennis star knifed in her home

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has suffered hand injuries in a knife attack at her home. The 26 year old has revealed she was stabbed in her left hand when she tried to defend herself during what is believed to have been a burglary at her house in the Czech Republic.

While her injuries are serious, they are not life-threatening, although she has tweeted that she is lucky to be alive. The injuries were sustained as she tried to defend herself from her attacker.

She was attacked in Prostejov, close to the national tennis academy where she trains. A police spokesman said a major manhunt was now under way for the attacker, who is described as being around 35.

Fight

The tennis superstar said that she needed to see specialists who would be able to treat and tell her more about potential recovery from the injury. But she added: “If you know anything about me I am strong and I will fight this. Thank you all again for your love and support.” She said she was already putting the incident behind her as she moved forward with trust in her doctors to make a recovery.

It is understood that Kvitova’s attacker was a complete stranger to her. She described him on social media simply as an “individual with a knife”. Ms Kvitova is thought to have been at home alone when someone broke in, having just split from her partner, the Czech ice hockey player Raek Meidl. Detectives believe she was targeted because of her wealth, which is understood to be in the region of £12 million.

She was already suffering from a completely unrelated foot injury and had been forced to pull out of the Hopman Cup mixed team tennis tournament in Australia in the New Year. She had tweeted that she was disappointed because, while an MRI scan showed her foot was healing, it would not be okay to play on by January.